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October 7th Call In Day: Demand a Hearing on Prison Construction in PA

The state is building 2 new prisons at a cost of over $400 million. This is the second most expensive construction project in the state's history and comes at a time when schools across Pennsylvania are closing for lack of funding. According to Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel, the decision to build new prisons is based on an internal cost-benefit study conducted by the Department of Corrections in 2007. After repeated attempts to obtain this study by Decarcerate PA and by numerous legislators the DOC finally provided 4 documents which are both remarkably inadequate and obviously misleading.

Decarcerate PA and our allies are calling on the House Judiciary Committee to investigate the inconsistencies, lies, and omissions of the Department of Corrections. We are asking the Committee to hold an investigative hearing to determine whether there was any actual financial justification for these prisons, and to do everything in their power to halt the construction for the duration of this investigation.

The decision to call this hearing rests solely in the hands of the Committee Chair Representative Ron Marsico. We are asking YOU to call Representative Marsico and tell him that the people of Pennsylvania want legislative investigation into this prison construction and the lack of transparency in the Department of Corrections.

You can call Representative Marsico at his Harrisburg office 717-783-2014. We also encourage you to also call his District office at 717-652-3721 and ask if he will commit to calling investigative hearings.